Albert b



(No Model.)

A. B. HUNN. V BICYCLE BELL.

No. 572,932. Patented Dec. 8, 1896.

NITED STATES TPATENT rricn.

ALBERT B. llUNN, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEXV I DEPARTURE BELL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BlCYCLE-BELL.'

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,932, dated December 8, 1896. I

Application filed June 30, 1896. Serial No. 597,649. (No modeld T0 at whom, it may conccrmr Be it known that I, ALBERT B. HUNN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Bells; and I do declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be aful], clear, and exact description of the same, said drawings forming a part of this specification.

This invention has relation to that class of bells which are particularly adapted for use in sounding alarms by the actuation of some part or instrumentality through the medium of the thumb or finger of the hand, as is commonly done in the use of alarm-bells employed on bicycles or velooipedes.

It is the object of the invention to provide such improvements in bells of the class mentioned as will secure the desired ends of efficiency in and cheapness of cost of construction.

To these ends my invention consists of a bell embodying in its construction a gong or bell proper, a suitable standard or support for the same, and a resilient arm consisting of a closely-coiled helical spring connected with and extending from the said standard or support and provided on its end with a striker or hammer adapted to strike the bell or gong and instantly spring away from the same, so as not to check or deaden the vibrations of the gong, the construction being such that the striker or hammer will be supported normally out of contact with, but in such relation to, the gong that the striker may be pressed in any direction away from the gong, and when released be thrown by the resilient action of the arm against the gong to sound the same, all as is hereinafter set forth in detail, and pointed out with particularity in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a front View of myim proved bell, part being shown as broken away, showing it as adapted to be attached to the handlebars of a bicycle. Fig. 2 is a plan view of what is represented in Fig. 1, the gong or bell being portrayed as though it were transparent. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view-showing the structural character of the striker-arm, which constitutes a most important feature of the invention.

In the drawings, a designates the gong or bell proper, which is supported on theupper end of a standard Z), of suitable form and material, which standard is connected, in case the bell is to be used as a bicycle alarm-bell, with suitable means, such, for example, as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or any other known devices for attaching it to handlebars, though it is to be understood at the outset that I propose to employ the invention in bells in any connection that may be found desirable.

The gong or bell proper, a, may be of substantially hemispherical shape, as shown in the drawings, or of any other suitable or desirable form.

When shaped as portrayed in the drawings, the striker-arm 0 may be connected with the standard I) and extend out therefrom to the edge of the bell, the striker cl being connected with the outer end of the arm, as represented.

The strikenarm c is constructed of a length of resilient wire formed into a closely-coiled helical spring, so as that it may not only be extremely and quite sensitively resilient, but also so as that it may be resilient in all directions.

The striker d is supported on the strikerarm soas to be normally out of contact with the bell, as will be clearly understood by inspection of Fig.1. Underthese circumstances the user of the invention, by placing the thumb or finger upon the projecting part of the striker and pressing the same with the arm in any direction away from the bell and then suddenly releasing the said striker, will cause the striker by the resilient properties of the arm to fly up or back, its momentum carrying it beyond its normal position and causing it to strike and sound the bell and to instantly fly back, so as not to check or deaden the vibrations of the bell after having been sounded.

As before stated, the striker-arm is composed of a length of helically-coiled wire, one end of the helical coil being soldered or otherwise properly secured to the standard I) and the outer end having the striker it connected therewith in a similar manner.

The form and arrangement of the several parts shown may be varied without departing from the nature or spirit of the improvement, the essential feature of which is the striker arm or bar which is formed as a helical spring and made up from resilient wire, in connection with the striker on the striker-arm in its relationship to the gong or hell proper.

By my improvements I am enabled to provide an alarm-bell which is efficient and serviceable for the purposes for which it is intended in the highest degree, one in which the sounding of the bell is effected with the clearest possible tones, and one in which the cost of manufacture, as well as simplicity of construction, is reduced to a minimum. In

connection with these points of advantage there is that the bell may be easily and most readily operated, particularly when employed upon bicycles and velocipedes, for the reason that the striker may be most easily and read ily pressed away from the bell in any direction, and, furthermore, the construction and arrangement are such that the contrivance is not liable to get out of order.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a Way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all the forms in which it maybe made or all the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- An alarm-bell comprising in its construcagainst the bell to sound the same.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 13th day of June, A. D. 1896.

ALBERT B. IIUNN.

Witnesses EVAN. J. SHIPMAN, JOHN J. JENNINGS. 

